Lafayette’s ‘forgotten gallery’: Art Museum gift shop

As I have mentioned many times in my column, Tippecanoe County has numerous art venues where lovers of the visual arts and crafts can visit, explore, and purchase items of beauty.

We do have one venue, however, that I consider to be nearly forgotten, yet it exhibits some of the finest works of art and crafts this county has to offer.

The Gift Shop at the Art Museum of Greater Lafayette is yet another gallery within the museum. While walking up the stairs to the museum’s main galleries, art lovers will immediately be introduced to some of the two-dimensional works of art the gift shop exhibits.

Oil paintings by Ralph Privoznik and Dan Annarino, as well as a beautiful landscape by Rodney Reveal titled “Resting Place,” can be studied prior to entering the actual shop.

This small space is filled with ceramics, jewelry, wall constructions, glass, wooden vessels, sculptures, felt hats, handmade handbags, as well as drawings and paintings in various media.

Perhaps the reason that this lovely art shop is not receiving the number of visitors that it deserves is because art viewers do not realize that this golden gem of a display space is really just another museum gallery. That’s right, it is a gallery!

True, it is a visually very busy space with paintings hung in salon style, but it can’t be denied that the shop is alive with artistic energy. The museum does a wonderful job of letting county residents know about upcoming exhibitions, as well as all of the art classes that are offered. What is not advertized very often are the items of artistic beauty that the gift shop holds.

Our community is extremely lucky to have such a diverse fine arts facility within the city limits of Lafayette. Not only can families enroll and enjoy art instruction by numerous art educators, but they can also view art exhibits by regional and nationally known artists.

If that is not enough, residents can also view and purchase locally produced fine arts and crafts. So the next time you visit the art museum, please allow a few minutes to explore the “forgotten” gallery, the Gift Shop at the Art Museum of Greater Lafayette.